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Serena Williams’ Religious Father ‘King’ Richard Once Blatantly Dismissed the Idea of Having Patrick Mouratoglou in Her Team: ‘Apply Her Life More to Jehovah’

Published 09/16/2022, 6:34 PM EDT

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Legendary tennis player Serena Williams has had many coaches in her career, but her partnership with the French coach Patrick Mouratoglou was one of the most successful player-coach pairings in the history of the sport. Notably, Mouratoglou joined Serena’s camp in 2012, and they immediately won a Grand Slam title at Wimbledon.

Serena’s father Richard Williams, her coach since childhood, felt happy with his daughter’s success. However, he wasn’t happy about Mouratoglou joining her coaching camp, as he mocked the French coach.

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Richard Williams once mocked Serena Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou

After Serena won the Wimbledon title in 2012, reporters asked ‘King’ Richard about Mouratoglou coaching Serena. In reply, he said, I think it’s good, but I think it would be a lot better if Serena took the time to apply her life more to Jehovah.

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“I don’t know what she’s doing because I’m not with her 99 percent of the time, but I think she should take more time to do that. That’s more important than any tennis ball or anything she could do in training to try new things. It was Jehovah who brought her through this here,” Richard further said. 

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Notably, Richard was mentioning Serena’s problems with blood clots, as it caused her massive problems physically. So he wanted her to thank the almighty for her win, rather than coach Patrick Mouratoglou. In 2012, Serena beat the Polish player Agnieszka Radwanska in three sets to win her first Grand Slam title under Mouratoglou. Since then, they have won 9 more Grand Slam titles to take her overall tally to 23.

Fans slammed Mouratoglou for his farewell message to Serena

Earlier this month, Serena Williams ended her illustrious tennis career after losing in the third round of the US Open. Many fans and players congratulated her and hailed her as the GOAT. Patrick Mouratoglou also posted a tweet regarding her retirement.

Watch This Story: Serena Williams sends love as Roger Federer hangs his tennis racket

“What a ride it has been. Thank you for everything. I wish you the very best for the next chapter!” he wrote on Twitter.

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However, fans expressed their anger and disappointment with his tweet, as he neither mentioned Serena’s name nor tagged her in the tweet. Many fans called him out for it and criticized him massively for writing a poor farewell message. Notably. Mouratoglou decided to split with Serena in April and became the new coach of Simona Halep. It’s possible that many fans were angry with Mouratoglou about leaving Serena before she made her comeback.

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Meanwhile, Serena is enjoying her retirement life so far with her daughter, Olympia. However, fans are still hoping for a comeback, particularly at the Australian Open in 2023.

Will Serena make a comeback in the future? Let us know in the comments.

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Debkinkar Maity

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Debkinkar Maity is a Tennis Author at EssentiallySports. His desire to become a sports journalist inspired him to take up a degree in journalism and mass communication, and he hasn't looked back ever since. Following the sport for over a decade now, Debkinkar has an ardent love for Roger Federer.
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